Fourth Summer With Twins = The Pool Summer

Last summer, I told Jon I wanted every summer to have one focus - enjoying as much pool time as possible. So far this year, we have spent an astounding amount of time at the pool. Part of this is good planning on our part, as we purposefully bought a home two blocks from the neighborhood pool. We can quickly load the kids in the wagon and walk there. We go there multiple times on weekends (before and after nap) and we also go a few times during the week. Even after a full day of work, we can spend 6-7 at the pool and have the boys in bed by 8 PM. Most nights it is still in the 90s at that time, so it is refreshing for the adults too.

A couple of weekends ago, I was talking to one of our neighbors and learned the boys can start swim team at age 4. Which is next summer. Which is crazy. There was a meet last Tuesday so we walked up with the boys to check it out. The boys were fascinated as we explained lane lines, starting boards, and the backstroke flags overhead.

Then the Under 6 race started. I could not stop giggling because it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. In attempts to be big kids, some of the kids belly flopped off the starting boards. They doggy paddled and used other stroke combinations to make it halfway down the pool, where lifeguards waited for them. They were so incredibly proud and the parents were cheering louder than I've ever heard parents cheer.

Tonight starts Nate and Alex's individual swim lessons. It's crazy to think this is the first step towards being the loudest cheering parent on the side of the pool as my two boys belly flop off the side and doggy paddle their way in a race (because YOU KNOW when my boys swim their first race, no one will be louder than me). Report tomorrow on whether it is a flop or a success!

The almost perfect weekend

We had an almost perfect weekend: three pool trips, a birthday party, a trip to airport park, date night. The non-perfect part to the weekend?

Alex fell with a party blower in his mouth and gouged the back of his throat and uvula. Massive amounts of blood and crying ensued. Poor guy.

Shortly before nap Sunday, Alex somehow fell and started screaming. Jon and I grabbed flashlights and Alex to assess the damage. The screaming and blood were bad enough that we decided to go straight to urgent care. While packing up a screaming Alex, Nate went into a horrific tantrum because he also wanted to go to the doctor. Jon and I rushed to pack a bag and get Alex ready while both kids screamed and cried at full volume.

If I ran a birth class, this is the video I would show parents. Why focus on childbirth when these are the kinds of events you REALLY need to prepare for?

Halfway to urgent care, Alex started talking happily. I stopped the car, checked out his mouth, and saw it had stopped bleeding. I drove back home while Jon called our after hours pediatrician line. Their advice was to take Alex to urgent care if there was swelling or an obvious cut (rather than scrapes). More flashlights and screaming while we checked it out again. Everything looked fine, so we gave him ibuprofen and put the boys down for nap.

After nap, the blood had cleared up and we were able to see a huge gash in the back of his throat, so I took him to urgent care. Repeat of Nate massive tantrum.

At urgent care, they saw him immediately which is never, ever a good thing. The nurse who checked him out was clearly not a fan of kids and Alex is very sensitive to people's emotions. Alex had the biggest blowout tantrum I have seen from him since he was 18 months old. He was completely out of control because he did not want his oxygen checked. The irony of this was not lost on me, that the nurse was insistent of checking his oxygen levels as he kicked and screamed at full volume.

I finally got him calmed down and the doctor checked out his injury. The cut is not actually on his uvula so they said it should heal on its own in a few days. As we ran through Alex's medical history (and some of Nate's history for questions like "ear infections?" "nope, Nate's the ear kid"), I was super apologetic about the entire experience. I said to the doctor that we are Rule Followers and generally I wouldn't let him run around with something like this in his mouth, so I felt extra horrible that I broke a rule and he got hurt. She told me not to worry as kids will find ways to get hurt, particularly 3 year old boys.

He felt good enough that I drove straight to the pool where Jon and Nate met us with toys and swimsuits. After pool time, Jon and I went out for hush puppies and seafood in downtown Apex. A perfect end to an almost perfect weekend.

Finished For Friday: Freedom, HDYDI, Water Fears

There is no good way to photograph this part of our house and no reason to spend time editing this photo. Anyone who has ever twinproofed a house can appreciate the magnitude of this milestone: this week, we removed the gate at the top of our stairs.

We had not locked the gate since Christmas break, so it was time to come down. For now, we have kept the gate at the bottom of the stairs as it is retractable and it is nice to have the option to corral kiddos downstairs, particularly when friends come over.

There are many bittersweet moments of having twins, as phases pass by once in a lifetime. Taking off the stupid gate is so so so sweet with not a touch of bitter. I love unbabyproofing the house as much as I hated twinproofing it.

Also finished: How Do You Do It? has officially moved into its new home at HDYDI.com. To celebrate the move, we are hosting a summer-themed giveaway. Enter the giveaway here and stick around!

Also finished: My fear of Nate and Alex going under the water at the pool. Last night we brought some toy rockets that sink to the bottom. Nate immediately started diving to grab them off the bottom. Alex did the same thing by the end of our trip. I can't believe how quickly they are learning to hold their breath for longer and longer periods. Time to let go of my fear.

Have you finished something this week? Play along at Lit and Laundry!

Family Movie Night!

Jon is impossible to shop for because he honestly doesn't want things. While I do love this about him, it also makes gift giving very difficult. This Father's Day, I brainstormed a list of five possible gifts and ran them past him. He declined four of the five but he did want a tv for our bedroom. This was a perfect Father's Day gift because it is also a gift for me!

It gave us the perfect opportunity to institute Family Movie Night. All week, I hyped up that Saturday was going to be Movie Night where we would all wear pajamas, pile into our bed, and watch a movie together. The boys were very excited, particularly once they learned they could eat popcorn in the bedroom.

We decided to watch Ratatouille since we had not seen it before. Nate was happy as a clam as he continually repeated, "I love movie night!" with the biggest smile on his face. Alex was much more into cuddling, often fighting with Nate to cuddle with me.

The only rough patch we hit during the movie was a scene where the rat loses his family in the sewers. Alex broke into hysterics, sobbing "He lost his family!" It gave us some good insight into how Alex's mind works that this was so scary to him. He was truly upset about it until the rat found his family. About 75 minutes into the movie, the boys lost interest and they had finished an entire bag of popcorn. We fast forwarded to the end and cheered.

Before you have kids, you have all these ideas about the fun things you will do with them. It seems so simple to say we watched (most of) a movie together, but it felt like such a huge milestone in our life with the boys. I'm probably the lamest 35 year old on the planet to say I can't wait to watch Bee Movie on Saturday night, but I'm content to be lame if it means I get to be mom to these two little boys.

Dumb dumb dumb mommy

As I was driving the boys home from day care, an ambulance passed in front of us with lights blazing. Traffic came to a standstill and the boys asked why the ambulance was making noise. I explained when someone is sick, they call the ambulance and the ambulance takes them to the hospital.

Nate said/whined he wanted to go to the hospital. I told him I didn't want him to be sick. He said he could go to the hospital without being sick. I said, "The only people who go to the hospital without being sick are women having babies. Maybe when someone has a baby we can visit them in the hospital."

DUMB DUMB DUMB. Why on earth would I voluntarily bring up the issue of where babies come from?!?!

I abruptly changed the topic back to sick people at the hospital. SAVE.

PS. I've got a whole post on my other blog about Harris Teeter Super Double Coupons, a hummus recipe, and some photo editing magic.

Yes, the kid is motivated

At the pool Sunday, Nate got in a floaty ring and asked to go to the deep end of the pool to watch the people go off the diving boards. He had good timing because a string of people decided to do flips, double flips, and back flips off the diving board. It was seriously impressive to both me and Nate. Of course Nate said he wanted to go off the diving board.... into the 10 foot water. And he was very insistent about it. I told him he had to learn how to swim to go off the diving board.

What do you think Nate did the rest of the time we were at the pool? Oh yes, he would hold his breath, go under the water, and kick around. Or he would push off from the side, go under water, and propel himself forward. Every time he came up for air, he would yell, "Clap for me! I'm swimming!"

Alex saw all the attention we were giving Nate over his "swimming" and proceeded to spend more and more time going under water as well. However Alex gives no warning. He just plops under the water and stays there for however long he likes.

In general, I have nerves of steel when it comes to parenting twin boys. I've seen a huge number of crashes, falls, bumps, and bruises. But even I was thrown for a loop watching the boys purposefully go under water and wiggle around, with no idea when they were coming up. Each time as my nerves were about to fail and I moved to pull them from under water, they popped up with huge smiles on their faces.

Our original plan was to wait until they were more confident in the water before starting swim lessons. But I think jumping into water as deep as themselves unassisted and going under water on their own means they are plenty confident! Swim lessons here we come!

Fourth Father's Day

Jon's first Father's Day, we had two one month old babies. Any extra time was spent napping or showering. Jon's second Father's Day, we flew cross-country with two 13 month olds to attend a wedding. Jon's third Father's Day, we were on vacation by ourselves without the boys. So we really wanted to celebrate his fourth Father's Day because he does so much for our family.

I let Jon sleep in as late as he wanted. I cooked three meals (chocolate chip pancakes, chicken curry, and PW steaks). We walked the park and played. I cleaned up the garage while he rested and watched soccer. Then we spent hours at the pool.

He obliged me in some picture taking and in return, I let him pick the photos for the blog. He couldn't decide between this one where Nate looks good:

or this one where Alex looks good so I decided to put both up here (even though this last one is my favorite).

Happy father's day to the best man I know, my best friend.

Why twins rule, #6842

Last night was one of the worst nights I've had with the boys in a lonnnnnngggg time.

Scratch that. Last night was one of the worst nights I've had with NATE in a lonnnnnngggg time. I tried to go to my zen place and be cool, calm, and consistent. Instead I almost completely lost it with him.

Alex came home with a horrible bite mark on his arm and they both said it was Nate. Nate said he did it because Alex wouldn't share with him on the playground. After horrible objections and negativity all night, Nate chomped down on Alex's leg with no warning for no reason. He didn't just bite and release. He bit and held on, laughing as Alex cried. They are old enough to know this is not acceptable behavior.

I yelled at him when I sent him upstairs to time out. After time out, he was laughing about it and I yelled at him again and sent him back to time out. I very rarely yell at the kids but this was definitely a yelling situation because he hurt Alex so bad.

(And while we generally use 1 2 3 Magic and LOVE IT, I do think kids sometimes need to see how their actions impact other people's emotions.)

Alex was really crying hard so I cuddled with him on the couch and gave him oodles of TLC. I asked what would make him feel better and he said he wanted to lay down with me. As we lay on the couch, he snuggled close to me and said, "I love cuddling with you mommy."

Reason #6842 twins rule: when one acts like a devil, the other sometimes acts like an angel.

We talked more about biting and how it hurts Alex and makes mommy very very angry. And we talked about the privileges that will be lost if any more biting happens. And I had a nice glass of wine after the boys went to bed while waiting for Jon's flight to get home. And I tried not to worry about 3.5 times two.

HDYDI, SYTYCD, iphone apps, okay fine this is a gumbo post

* How Do You Do It? has moved to a new location, HDYDI.com, so update your readers and sidebars. From now on, I will be posting every other Tuesday instead of every Tuesday because the twinny twinness stuff isn't quite as pronounced at 3. I wrote a post this week about phthalate exposure in NICU babies. Once we get officially launched, we will be hosting a giveaway so look for it soon.

* So You Think You Can Dance has started and it is still so much fun. The day after the performance show, I show the dances to the boys and it is a riot. They try to duplicate the (insanely complicated and advanced) steps as they watch each dance. This morning we watched the disco from last night and it was a riot. I'll be honest - we watched it four times in a row. Nate made Alex hold hands with him and spin around. Alex tried to replicate a back flip. At the end, I lifted them above my head and spun around and they thought that was the best thing ever.

It's so easy to please 3 year olds.

(Although sometimes it is impossible to please 3 year olds.)

* I am digging my iphone. I'm trying not to think of it as a cell phone but as a personal portable computer. Nate and Alex love the apps Scribble and Bubblewrap. I also like Scribble because I love drawing fake moustaches and missing teeth on my pictures.

I bought CameraBag after reading a review by Barr Babies' Lesley and it is FUN. You can apply different filters to your iphone photos to make them a little more interesting. Here's pouty Nate demonstrating the filter Helga.

And here's Alex demonstrating Instant (Polaroid).

Playing with this app has given me the kick in the pants that I need to start editing photos. I was hesitant to invest more time on the computer but I am really enjoying learning to take better pictures of my kids.

Anyone have other good iphone apps they would recommend for both me and the kids? Also for Jon since you know he plays with my iphone!

A day in the life, now with more marshmallow!

People often ask me how I get so much done, so I thought I would write this blog post to tell everyone my secret: I stay up way way way too late when Jon is gone. Here was my day, from start to finish:

Wake up boys at 6:30 to take Roxane to the airport. Get boys to eat and change them for the car ride. Drive in torrential rain, hit Starbucks drive-through, then drop off boys at day care.

Get home, change into running clothes and hit the treadmill for an hour while watching 2 episodes of Weeds. Work all day with 30 minute lunch break to shower, eat lunch, and change Alex's sheet where his overnight pullup leaked.

At 5PM, pack dinner for the boys. Pick them up from day care, give them food to eat and tell them if they are good at Target while I'm buying overnight diapers for Alex I will let them eat a marshmallow on the way home. Talk to boys in car, then hit Target, hit grocery store, give the boys marshmallows for car ride home.

Unpack boys when I get home and really try not to get pissed about this. REALLY try. I knew Alex was too quiet with that marshmallow.


What's that you say? Perhaps the profile picture will show you that Alex rubbed marshmallow ALL OVER his face. Sticky wet marshmallow.

I could almost laugh about it until I saw his legs. HIS LEGS. I totally see why you would want wet marshallow on your face but your KNEES?!

Clean off Alex. Unpack car. Boys were still hungry when we got home so make them bowls of cereal and fruit. Bath, books, bed for boys.

Microwave some leftover pasta for myself to eat while watching an episode of Weeds and decompressing.

Get up to unload groceries, unload Target purchases, unload dishwasher, load and rerun dishwasher, do two loads of laundry including folding and putting away, talk to my sister, talk to my friend, talk to Jon, take out trash and recycling, pick up the house, make to-do list for next day. Do all of this (except phone calls) while catching up on NPR podcasts.

Write blog post. Go upstairs to bed at midnight and read until I drop my book.

Introspection on a rainy day

At the beach this weekend, we were standing at a dock before going to get some boiled shrimp for lunch. Roxane asked about my grandpa Bob's boat (he built a 41 foot sailboat in the backyard) and I told her how my sister and I used to play inside it. Over the years, my grandma Pat constantly talked about this one tea party she and I had inside the unfinished hull of the boat when I was about 3 years old.


I never really got the power of that story until this morning. To me, it has always been about my grandma loving to tell stories. After this weekend, I realized it is a story about the sheer joy of being a grandparent, getting a chance to truly enjoy the wonder of children without the responsibilities. The last time I was with my grandma Pat, I was pregnant and she told me the story again. I can't help but think she was trying to tell me something about how magical children are and to stop, slow down, and enjoy more.

To me, it was a true wonder seeing Nate and Alex at the beach and I can't help but hope that we helped create a tea party-like story for Roxane.

And dang, it is bittersweet because grandma Pat would have had a riot with these little boys.

Beach weekend recap and picture overload

If I had to pick my heaven on earth, it would be the beach. Ever since the boys were born, I dreamed of the day I would get to sit in a beach chair and watch my boys run along the sand and into the water. After this weekend, I can honestly say it was everything I ever dreamed it would be.



The boys had such different reactions to the beach.


Alex loved the sand. Throwing himself into it. Digging holes. Rolling around in it. Facefuls and mouthfuls of sand did not deter him.


He ran and jumped and ran and ran and ran through the sand.


And of course, he loved spending time with grandma at the beach.

Nate's reaction was different.

He loved the water. He wanted to go deeper and deeper into the ocean. He loved watching the waves crash onto him. By the end of the trip, he was brave enough to run into the waves by himself.

What he did not love was me taking pictures of him. At all. So I had to make do.

And of course, he loved spending time with grandma at the beach.

It filled my heart with joy to see my boys love something as much as I love something. I can only hope that future trips are this enjoyable.

I bribed them quite a bit to get cooperation with photos. The hugging photo from yesterday was the result of bribery. The hand holding photo from yesterday was the result of bribery. This photo was minor bribery.

At the end of the trip, bribes no longer worked as these boys were so sad to be going home. I know exactly how they feel.

Beachy sneaky peeks

Did Nate and Alex like the beach?


Oh yes, yes they did.


It was a perfect trip.

More pictures tomorrow.

How I turned into my mother with home improvements

Due to time and budget constraints, setting up our house has been a long-term project. Now that we no longer need the glider and it has a home, we could move on with plans for our living room. The playroom couch moved into the living room and we bought a loveseat to go with it. Since our kitchen and eat-in kitchen open up to the living room, we opted to put both couches along walls to give us more space for little boys to run around. It doesn't channel Pottery Barn but it is functional.

The problem with this configuration? From my own mouth I hear my mother's voice saying, "BACK UP. YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO THE TV."

I can't wait to tell them they are going to ruin their eyesight standing so close to the tv.

So many post titles to choose from, so little time

What's your favorite post title for this video? For bonus points, share your own in the comments:

* Why I Make My Boys Wear Helmets
* Milestone: my first submission to America's Funniest Home Videos
* This one is for Joanna
* No 3 year olds were harmed in the making of this video
* Eat it! (a la Weird Al)
* Putting down the camera immediately proves I am a good mother
* I never thought I would find this funny with my own kid yet I've watched this video 100 times and laughed each time
* hahahahahaha WIPEOUT

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Seriously, Nate was okay. Not a single scratch on him, much to my surprise. He didn't even cry. One quick kiss and he was back on the scooter for another race.)

Caffeine + Nate = talk talk talk talk talk

Nate talks a lot. I think I've said that a million times on this blog by now.

(Oddly, when the boys sleep separately, Alex talks for an hour in his room alone. Not a peep from Nate.)

Friday night I got it into my head that I wanted Bojangle's fried chicken. I NEVER eat fried chicken but I figured my body must be missing some important nutrient to have such a specific craving. I talked Jon into going as the nearest Bojangles is near Target, where we also needed to go to get some last-minute beach items. The boys love biscuits and mashed potatoes so Bojangles was a hit.

Nate asked for some of my sweet tea and I gave him some thinking he would hate it. Nope, he loved it. He drank more and more and more. After Bojangles, we quickly ran through Target. When we got in the car, Jon cursed my decision to share my sweet tea as Nate would NOT STOP TALKING. All that caffeine in his tiny body, he couldn't help but run his mouth in overtime. We had purchased beach chairs at Target so Nate said 20 times in a row, "I can't wait to go to the beach! I can't wait to go to the beach!"

He wouldn't even respond to our attempts to engage in conversation. We'd ask what we were going to do at the beach and he would repeat, "I can't wait to go to the beach! I can't wait to go to the beach!"

Lesson learned: do not give Nate caffeine.

Another lesson learned: if there is a urinal at a restaurant, Nate needs to pee there. I took him to the women's restroom to give Jon a break from potty duty. Nate peed on the toilet seat, the floor, the wall, and himself. It went EVERYWHERE. He said, "Look at all my pee everywhere!" It was the ultimate walk of shame to go tell a Bojangle's employee my kid peed everywhere in their bathroom.

But that fried chicken was SO GOOD.

Tired tired tired

We had another busy fun weekend: two birthday parties, chores, museum time, one-on-one time with the kids. It was so exhausting that all three nights, Jon and I flopped on the couch after the kids went to bed and completely vegged.

One birthday party featured an enormous water slide that you know Nate had to go down.



Alex was afraid of the big water slide but he did enjoy going down the little slide.

Between splashing around time, Nate hopped on the swing. Few things have made him look like a big boy to me than him swinging himself on a big boy swing.


The highlight of the party for Alex was that we let him walk around with his own bag of chips. He ate every last chip in the bag. They were cheddar sun chips but when I asked him about them, he told me they were Boritos. He's never had Doritos at home so I have no idea how he learned that word. But it is clear he is Jon's child if Doritos were his favorite part of the party.

And if you had to ask me WHY Jon and I were so tired this weekend, this look on Nate's face says it all.

That is Nate's "I am doing something I know I am not supposed to do" face. This face was a frequent, unwelcome guest at our house this weekend. This face landed Nate in timeout a record number of times. It was one of those weekends where we won the parenting battle but we came out with bloodied lips, bruised faces, and exhausted bodies.

This beach trip couldn't come at a better time!

I'm training Japanese oh yes I'm training Japanese I really think so

Long long time readers (aka family and friends) may remember my friend Kaylyn. Kaylyn was one of my best friends in high school and she also has twin girls. When the boys were six weeks old, Kaylyn came to stay with us for a week and taught us all the logistics of caring for twin newborns. I will be indebted to her forever for that help!

Kaylyn and her family live in Japan and she sent me Japanese potty training items for the boys. She sent us a variety of padded cotton training pants in fun designs and patterns. This is what we use overnight for Nate and he LOVES them. In case of minor accidents, it prevents him from wetting his sheets, which means more sleep for me and Jon! My understanding is they sell similar underwear in the states, which I am going to find for our near future when we need two sets.



(Nate and Alex also play a game called Monster where they wear these on their head and chase each other through the house. Upcoming video on that one, I PROMISE.)

One of the other items in her potty training care package is too good not to share. Let me present: potty training liners. Aka Japanese baby panty liners.

In case you think I am exaggerating the panty liner part of it, let's check a little more closely. You don't even need to read Japanese to understand this product.

Let's say you're a father and you have no idea how pantyliners work. Never fear! This package contains step by step directions on how to use them on your neutered children.

While this option is certainly cheaper than pull-ups, I've yet to use them with Nate. Because I know what would happen. We'd use them, Nate would love them, and then one day I'd be at a birthday party with all my friends and Nate would yell out, "Mommy why are you wearing potty pants like me?" and I'd have to launch into an extremely long explanation about Japanese baby panty liners.... you know it, I know it, and I'm just not ready for that kind of humiliation.

Doctors appointments pre-twins versus post-twins

Before twins: "I need to see the doctor right now for this pressing issue!"
After twins: "No bleeding, no fever, not unconscious, I can see the doctor whenever."

Before twins: "This cover up is so small."
After twins: "I get a cover up?"

Before twins: "Let me find my insurance card."
After twins: "My personal insurance contact responsible for our account is xxx. They are on our Christmas card list. I speak to them more than I speak to my relatives."

Before twins: "I hope I don't have to take off my underwear."
After twin: "I can't believe I get to keep my underwear on. My bra too? Score!"

Before twins: "Why are there always so many people in the room?"
After twins: "Two people see me undressed? That's it. Not two TEAMS of people?"

Before twins: "Where is the doctor? I hate waiting for appoinments."
After twins: "I hope the doctor is running behind. I can't wait to catch up on all the trashy gossip magazines in peace."


All joking aside, can I tell you again to PLEASE put sunscreen on your kids? And yourself? This morning the dermatologist had some very interesting information for me about skin cancer in children right after he told me I need to come back to have four moles biopsied. Three PLUS the one I thought was suspicious. The good news is they don't appear bad enough to need immediate biopsy so I go back in a few weeks, so I am truly not worried.

But at least now I have justification for being a sunscreen nutjob all the time.

Wednesday gumbo

Lots of things going on, none of which deserve their own post.

* My hearing in my right ear continues to worsen. (Confused? Here's the story of my bionic ear.) It was frustrating the first time it happened but it is even more frustrating having this happen when I have two 3 year olds. I feel like crying every time I have to tell them I can't hear them or ask them to repeat themselves. I still have my checkup scheduled for a couple of months from now but I have a feeling this story will become more "interesting" in the fall :(

* We're going to the beach next weekend! Ever since we moved to NC, we have wanted to take a family beach trip. We took one last year for our birthdays and it was exhausting. The boys ran up and down the beach, and Jon and I had the pleasure of each chasing one and never relaxing. We decided to wait until they were older and I am SO EXCITED.

* My sister and I both have dermatology appointments this week to check out suspicious moles. PLEASE put sunscreen on yourselves and your kids!

* We've been hitting the pool as much as possible and have seen some exciting trends from the boys. Alex will hold his breath, go underwater, and open his eyes. He pops up and says "I saw your toes!" or "I see you under water mommy!" It is so adorable. Nate likes to throw toys, then have you support his belly while he "swims" by furiously kicking and paddling. I really hope they are swimming by the end of summer. Any tips or advice?

The final chair photo: 3 year old

The time has come: we are giving away our rocking chair to some friends-of-friends expecting a baby. I do not feel sad about it one bit, but I wanted to take one last round of chair pictures for posterity. Also it gave me an excuse to look through all the chair pictures again!

Here is the first chair picture, taken when the boys were one month old: Alex on the left, Nate sleeping on the right. They were swimming in their preemie outfits. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a newborn chair picture but we were just too tired to think straight.

This picture from their 6 month chair pictures became our Christmas card. I want to eat their chubby little cheeks!

Of all the chair pictures, this 10 month picture remains my favorite. They were so uncooperative and wiggly and crazy yet when we posed them like this, they were instantly excited to be in front of the camera. This reminds me what a happy time 9-12 months was. Two little boys crawling around the house giggling and playing!

And one picture from the last chair shoot: 18 months. The boys were tired of the shoots, Jon was tired of the shoots. Someone always cried. Someone always objected. They cooperated for one kiss before they both climbed off the chair.

Here's the 3 year picture. They were extremely cooperative. They picked out their own outfits. They talked to me throughout the picture process. It was easy breezy.

Three years later and I still can't believe what little sweeties they are.

Yet another milestone, the bacon one

Nate doesn't really eat meat. He will willingly eat bites of everything but won't eat a significant amount of meat. Then this weekend we gave the boys bacon for the first time and Nate went crazy for it. We had to stop him at two pieces.

Forget the turkey burgers, grilled chicken breasts, and veggie corn dogs - Nate has North Carolina blood running through his veins.